Cauchemar
by mr.incredible
Summary: John Sheppard's darkest nightmares may yet come true...Fifth and final chapter online...
1. Nightmares

**Cauchemar- A Stargate: Atlantis short story**

John Sheppard was back on Earth. He was surrounded by fire… and screaming. Screams of pain, of anguish, of fear, of death. The many hideous sounds of suffering came together in a sickening cacophony of howls, cries and shouts, echoed a million times in his tortured mind. The floor was a mass of jagged rubble, the sky a blood-red lake of fetid black clouds. The Wraith were on Earth. The others had been killed when the Wraith broke through the gate. Sheppard had escaped. He had ran into the deepest corridors of the city and waited. He had waited until the Wraith had found Earth. Then he had followed them through the gate. To Earth. To the new feeding ground. He ran across the street, the taste of blood pervading his tongue. Across the road, the withered husks of several Wraith victims, aged beyond recognition in just a few seconds, lay dead among the ruins. Sheppard kept on running. Turning a corner, he saw a Wraith warrior standing over a limp grey body, and it saw him. It opened fire with a hail of blue energy bolts. Sheppard was struck twice in the chest and fell to the floor, his head spinning…

John's eyes snapped open suddenly. He found himself back in his bed on Atlantis, his face and hair dripping with sweat. He relaxed and lay back against his pillow. Safe? Not yet. He would never be safe. No-one would be. The Wraith would come eventually, and then even he might not survive. Atlantis was not safe. And neither was Earth…


	2. Sleepless nights

**Cauchemar- Chapter 2**

It was early morning on Atlantis, and everyone was still asleep. Everyone except John Sheppard. Having found himself afraid to go back to sleep, in case he relived his hellish nightmare once more, he had begun to wander the endless corridors and vast hallways of the Ancient city. He knew he had to do something, he was losing too much sleep already, but he had thought the nightmares would go away by themselves. They had persisted though, and it wouldn't be long before they started affecting his efficiency out on missions. He couldn't allow that to happen. No way. He'd have to get it sorted out.

Meanwhile, in the bowels of the city, the Wraith prisoner hissed in delight,the plan was working…


	3. Interrogations

**Cauchemar- Chapter 3**

As the pale sun rose into the sky above Atlantis, and the heavens became a swirl of pink and blue vapors, the city came alive. Men and women rose from their beds and began their day. But John Sheppard, in a feverish state after another night plagued with nightmares, was already wide awake, and headed for the workplace of Atlantis' resident psychologistDr. Heightmeyer. He arrived there a few minutes later, with the young doctor commenting on his disheveled state. Cautiously he took a seat and began to explain his nightmares, but was wary of showing signs of weakness in public. He explained to her that the nightmares had become more and more frequent, and he was afraid it would affect his team. Heightmeyer suggested that the nightmares could be brought on by the Wraith, known as they were to be able to force humans to hallucinate. John knew that there was only one Wraith in Atlantis. The prisoner. John flew from his seat and left the room in a flash, leaving the psychologist slightly bemused at his abrupt departure.

Hours later, in the murky depths of the city, John stared at his prisoner through the high-voltage energy grid that separated him from the ravenous Wraith male. John asked the creature what was going on, and if it and its brethren were behind his nightmare-ridden hours of darkness. The Wraith replied with a sadistic grin plastered across its waspish features, telling John that he could make him do nothing, and that the others of its race would soon arrive and slaughter the inhabitants of Atlantis, and then move onto Earth. The Wraith would then make a feast of Earth's people, and none would be spared. John turned away in disgust. He asked the Wraith once again whether it had fashioned his nightmares, if it had sent them into his mind to damage him mentally. The Wraith simply replied that his nightmares were all part of a higher purpose, the Wraith domination of humanity…


	4. Violent emotions

**Cauchemar- Chapter 4**

It was now late in the evening and John Sheppard was tired. The sun had receded to little more than a vivid red blotch against the darkening sky, and the people of Atlantis were drifting away from their workplaces, and returning to heir rooms. John was not among them. He had determined to find Dr. McKay, and inquire about just how advanced the Wraith illusionary technology really was. If the damn Wraith fought he was just going to sit back and let them control his life, they could think again. McKay meanwhile, was sitting in his laboratory, doing nothing in particular. He was taken by surprise when John stormed in and started asking question after question about Wraith technology. He couldn't keep up. Realizing that something must really be bugging his friend, McKay told him to slow down and start from the beginning. As John explained his problems, and how he knew the Wraith must be behind it all, McKay began to wonder if Wraith technology was more powerful than he had first thought. John seemed pretty upset too, and his emotions seemed a lot stronger than usual. He told him to get a few days rest, for his own good, but John didn't want to know. He just got angry. McKay watched in horror as his friend broke into a rage, furiously lashing out at his surroundings. Books and equipment were swept from tabletops and chairs sent flying across the room. This was not the John Sheppard he was used to. He backed away as John rounded on him, his face contorted into a mask of contemptuous malevolence. John moved towards him at an alarming rate, and McKay began to fear for his life. He was knocked against the wall and pummeled repeatedly by his friend's fists. As his vision faded to a dim blur, he fell to the floor and passed out. John was hit by a spasm of pain in the back of his head, and stumbled back, tripping over a heap of shattered scientific apparatus and dropping to the floor alongside McKay. As this happened, in the labyrinth of cells beneath the city, the Wraith was also suffering, blood streaming from its ears and nostrils as its body convulsed with energy. It jabbered incoherently, struggling for air in a sea of anguished thoughts and emotions, as nightmarish apparitions flooded out from inside itself, gushing into the air and frenetically searching for a host mind…


	5. Revelations

**Cauchemar- Chapter 5**

John woke up to find himself in the Atlantis sickbay. His head was spinning and his memories were lost in a whirlpool of nothingness. Looking across the room, he saw that Dr.Mckay was lying in a bed, mere meters away from him. The sight of McKay's bloodied face triggered something inside him. He remembered. Although it was little more than a series of blurred images, he remembered going to the science labs, talking to McKay, and then… nothing. John's head began to throb with as he tried to remember what had happened after that, but it was as if a black hole had opened up inside his mind and swallowed his memories, engulfing them in an inky void .The doors to the west of the room slid open silently and Dr.Beckett walked in, flanked by a pair of medical experts in spotless white coats. John asked them what had happened, his voice strained, and then listened as they explained to him nervously that he had attacked McKay, but had been found unconscious himself. John asked about the Wraith hallucinatory technology, and was surprised to hear that his prisoner had been found dead in its cell, surrounded by guards who had all suffered seizures. Beckett went on to explain that the Wraith's death was linked to the technology, which they had guessed was being tested on John at first. But they had got too confident with it. They had tried to increase the power, try to affect others in Atlantis, exhausting and invadig their minds in readiness for a full attack on the city. However, with masses of energy being channeled through a single Wraith, its mind had crumbled under the pressure and it had destroyed itself. The attempt had failed, but there were hundreds more Wraith beyond the city, all hungry for human life, and all John Sheppard could do for the time being was rest…


End file.
